90,000 sign petition to protest sale of 1mn liters of water for less than $2 in Canada

A province in Canada is to start charging industries for using its water. The problem is the fee is a paltry US$1.79 per million liters. This has prompted over 90,000 to sign a petition, angry that Canada is giving away its natural resource.

The province of British Columbia on Canada’s Pacific coast is
planning to introduce the legislation from January 2016, which
will see companies charged US$1.79 (CAD$2.25) per million liters
of water used. However, residents are dismayed that potential
multi-national companies will pay next to nothing for the right
to use the province’s water.

A group called the ‘Sum of Us,’ which is a movement of consumers,
workers and shareholders speaking with one voice to
counterbalance the growing power of large corporations, has set
up an online petition to get the public to voice their
disapproval. They set a goal of 100,000 signatures to put
pressure on the British Columbia government and currently over
91,000 have signed.

The campaigners have cited Nestle as a company that is profiting
from the generosity of the province’s government.

“The cruel irony is that the new water legislation is fairly
appropriate when it comes to individuals' water use, but
corporations, once again, get off with paying virtually
nothing,” the ‘Sum of Us’ stated on its website. “If a
Canadian were to bottle enough groundwater to fill an
Olympic-sized swimming pool, they'd pay $180. Nestlé will pay
$6.25. That's bananas,” they added.

The decision by the British Columbian government to introduce the
new legislation is generally supported by the public. It will
replace the province’s aging laws, which did not regulate the use
of water. This allowed Nestle to take out 250 million liters of
water per year without being charged. Under the new proposals,
homes in the Canadian province will have to pay around $1.50
extra per year.

In comparison to other provinces, the water rates paid in British
Columbia are very low. In Quebec, one million liters would cost a
company US$55.50, while in Nova Scotia, the figure rises to
US$111.00 per million liters, or 62 times higher than the rate in
British Columbia.

Spencer Chandra Herbert, who is a member of British Columbia’s
New Democratic Party said the policy needs to be re-evaluated and
the taxpayer should not to have to foot any of the bill of
enforcing the new regulations.

“I don’t think the water’s being properly valued in order to
properly protect it,” he said, adding effective water
management involves “boots on the ground” to enforce the
act, and “policy people” to make decisions.

“A lot of business groups, community groups, farmers — they
want to see better protection for their water. I’m just worried
we’re not going to get it,” as reported by the Province
newspaper.

Until the new legislation was introduced, British Columbia
collected between US$5.5 million and US$6.3 million in water
charges, according to Ted White, who is the manager of water
strategies and conservation at the Ministry of Environment. With
the new rates introduced, it is hoped this figure will rise to
between US$9.5 million and US$10.3 million, the Vancouver Sun
reported.

In a letter to the Daily Courier newspaper, Mary Polak, who is
the Environment Minister for British Columbia tried to justify
the new changes.

“For the very first time, about 20,000 existing non-domestic
groundwater users in B.C. will be regulated and required to pay
annual rentals. For surface water, most industrial and commercial
rental rates have more than doubled under the new rental
rates,” she said.

Unsurprisingly, Nestle was in full support of the new
legislation, with John Challinor, who is Nestle Waters Canada
director of corporate affairs saying, “All monies collected
should be used solely to support the management and enforcement
of the regulation. This program should not be subsidized by
taxpayers who don’t draw groundwater.”

“We have always agreed to pay our fair share for groundwater.
But, we also believe that all commercial, municipal and domestic
groundwater users should pay their fair share.”